Calling All Micro/Independent Brand Suggestions

#microbrands #microtournament #general

1 month ago

WC Friends, some of you may recall that last year, once polls were implemented, we hosted a Best Micro Brand Under $3000 tournament. We started with 64 teams and had four matchups a day, lasting 16 days, until we had a champion, Farer. This year I want to line it up with the March Madness Tournament starting on March 14th and hopefully repeat the same each March.

That said, what are the brands you would like to see? I can easily pull 64 names, but where is the fun in that? Would love some suggestions here and we can use the reactions to measure popularity. Are there brands we did not use last year you would like to see this year? No need to suggest all the popular ones like Monta, Baltic, etc.

Couple guidelines:

Should be what most would consider micro or small independent brand (let’s not debate the difference, it is the spirit).
Should have a lineup of models with some industry tenure (IE not a new kickstarter brand your cousin’s neighbor’s coworker just launched).
Must have largely original designs and/or innovations (sorry homage/Ali brands you have your place, just not the tournament).
Should have brand recognition within the community (IE, if you search will you see active discussions on the brand or their watches?).

I realize we all have favorites, but as we saw last year, brands with little name recognition had one sided match-ups and made for less than compelling discussions. A brand’s exclusion is not a commentary on the quality of the brand.

We will have brackets this time around to make it a little more interesting, but I will share those at the start.

HotWatchChick69

· 1 month ago

Yes!!! It’s back!!!

AllTheWatches

· 1 month ago

HotWatchChick69

Yes!!! It’s back!!!

Hope it is as fun and even bigger than last year. Loved all the brand engagement we got with the community.

Matt84

· 1 month ago

Echo/Neutra, Malm Watches, Tusenö and E. C. Andersson all seem to match your criteria. All, small with a line up that people are aware of. I know I’m a bit Swedish brand heavy here, but hey that’s where I’m living now.

lphuberdeau

· 1 month ago

Axia, Beaubleu, Oak & Oscar

I don't own any of those, but I looked at a lot of pictures.

MinnKonaMike

· 1 month ago

Raven, Mitch Mason and Heinrich are a few that I been looking way to much lately

TalkingDugong

· 1 month ago

Boldr and RZE watches. I'd recommend Masa Horlogeries but those dudes seem to only sell them at their one boutique. That or you have to DM the seller themselves for one. Pity since they've made several (limited) good looking dress watches and chronometers.

AllTheWatches

· 1 month ago

TalkingDugong

The first two are fairly popular and solid suggestions. Masa seems to fall more in the modding side of things as their watches are made to order using existing watches, but definitely some cool work.